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Who Wrote the Works of William Shakespeare?

Wise scholars have been debating the authorship of William
Shakespeare's plays and sonnets for over two hundred years. The
question repeatedly asked is, who wrote Shakespeare's plays? Ten or
more different people have been suggested as the legitimate author of
Shakespeare's works. The three most widely accepted candidates seem to
be William Shakespeare, the actor, Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford,
and Sir Henry Neville, Ambassador to France and distant relative of
William Shakespeare.

The Stratfordian Case

The abundant historical evidence shows that William Shakespeare
(recorded as Shakespeare at his baptism) was born in
Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564. He moved to London, becoming a writer, an
actor, and a part owner of the acting company, the King's Men, which
owned the Globe Theatre and the Blackfriars Theatre. He spent time in
both London and Stratford, where he died in 1616.

Shakespeare was probably educated in Stratford at The King's New
School, though there are no surviving records of his early education.
At the school he would have received an excellent education, and he
would have learned Latin and studied some Roman playwrights. There is
no evidence or suggestion that Shakespeare received further formal
education at a university. It is likely that he was self-educated
during his years in London, much as fellow dramatist and friend Ben
Jonson, and fellow writers John Webster, Thomas Dekker, and Edmund
Spenser.

In addition to the historical evidence referenced above, there is
abundant written evidence that William Shakespeare was a poet and a
playwright. For one, a couple of narrative poems, "Venus and Adonis"
and also "The Rape of Lucrece" were published with a dedication to the
Earl of Southampton, his patron, and were signed by William
Shakespeare. Also, Thomas Thorpe published the volume, Shake-speares
Sonnets. Though it is not known whether the publication of the volume
was authorized, it is clearly attributed to be the work of Shakespeare.
Also, many of his plays, including "Hamlet" and "King Lear," were
published during his lifetime and attributed to William Shakespeare.

Further, the First Folio of 1623, the posthumous collection of
Shakespeare's plays published by his friends and fellow King's Men
actors, Heminges and Condell, is dedicated to Shakespeare. The Folio is
titled, "Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies,"
and Heminges and Condell dedicated the volume to Shakespeare.

Finally, Shakespeare's death was noted and mourned. William Basse
wrote a famous elegy, copies of which still exist, where he says that
Shakespeare deserves to be buried in Westminster Abbey next to Chaucer,
Beaumont, and Spenser. A few years after his death a monument was
erected in Stratford depicting Shakespeare as a writer sitting at his
desk, pen in hand.

The Anti-Stratfordians
The Oxfordian Case

The anti-Stratfordians, those who believe that someone other than
Shakespeare of Stratford wrote the plays and sonnets attributed to him,
make some strong arguments. They point to Shakespeare's modest
education and his lack of travel outside of Stratford and London.
Scholars question how he could have written plays that required
considerable geographical and political knowledge, and which required
knowledge of French, Spanish, and Italian sources, languages that
Shakespeare could not read. The vocabulary in his plays seems to be far
greater than the modestly educated Shakespeare could have possessed.

Also, the anti-Stratfordians point out that Shakespeare's will did
not mention any books, manuscripts, or a library. The will dealt in
depth with household items but did not mention anything of literary
importance. Numerous plays were unpublished and unperformed at the time
of his death, and scholars believe it reasonable that the author would
have made mention of them if they were truly his.

The Oxfordians believe that Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of
Oxford, is more likely to have been the true author of Shakespeare's
plays and sonnets. For one, Edward de Vere was a talented and
well-recognized poet and playwright whose word choices and phrases
resembled those of Shakespeare. He was well enough educated, a
Cambridge graduate at age 14, and widely enough traveled to have the
knowledge to write the historical plays of Shakespeare. In many of the
sonnets and plays are references to events that parallel de Vere's own
life. In fact, some consider the play "Hamlet" to be a near
autobiography of de Vere's life.

It is true that Edward de Vere died in 1604, before eleven of
Shakespeare's works have traditionally been dated. The Oxfordians point
out errors in the traditional dating of Shakespeare's later plays and
make convincing arguments that the plays were written before de Vere's
death and then published posthumously, not an unusual occurrence.

The Nevillian Case

Recently a strong case has been made for the idea that Sir Thomas
Neville is the most likely author of Shakespeare's works. Neville was
educated at Merton College, Oxford, and was fluent in many languages.
He traveled for four years on the continent of Europe directly after
graduation and in the company of an Oxford scholar. He was the
Ambassador to France for two years, and then he became involved with
the Essex conspiracy to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I. Neville and his
friend, Lord Southampton, were convicted, fined, and confined to the
Tower of London.

The Tower, for the rich like Neville, was more like a hotel than a
prison. There is evidence to suggest that Neville wrote many of the
Sonnets, including the ones that were addressed to Lord Southampton,
while confined to the Tower. It is also here that Neville wrote the
play, "Hamlet." Later, he published "Shake-speares Sonnets" and wrote
the dedication himself. He dedicated the sonnets to Lord Southampton. A
notebook kept by Neville while in the Tower contained detailed notes
that ended up as part of the play, "Henry VIII."

The Tower experience also explains the shift in the focus of
Shakespeare's plays from histories and comedies to the great tragedies,
all of which were written after Neville was released from the Tower
when James I became the king.

Other evidence that Neville may have been the author of
Shakespeare's works includes a statistical correlation of word
frequency between Neville's private and diplomatic letters and the
works of Shakespeare. Also, a document was discovered in 1867 that
shows that Neville practiced writing William Shakespeare's name. The
document shows 17 attempts at duplicating the famous signature.

Some scholars suggest that Sir Neville used the actor Shakespeare
as a front man for the plays and sonnets. Neville and Shakespeare were
distant relatives and knew each other, probably through Lord
Southampton, Shakespeare's patron and Neville's good friend. The
suggestion is that Neville needed a pseudonym for his plays and sonnets
because some of the plays were politically too sensitive. Neville was
descended from rivals of the Tudors and Henry VIII had executed his
grandfather, so he was concerned that his plays would be seen as
seditious.

Scholars also suggest that Ben Jonson, who was employed at Gresham
College, which was owned by the Neville family, knew of the front man
arrangement. Since Jonson was involved with putting Shakespeare's name
on the First Folio, it is suggested that he did so at the request of
the Neville family. The argument is that Shakespeare had agreed to the
front man arrangement many years earlier, also at the request of Sir
Neville and his family.

The debate about the authorship of Shakespeare's works continues
without a resolution in sight. There are numerous other candidates,
including the idea that the plays were written by a group of people.
Perhaps someday the discovery of an original manuscript will be found
and the question will be answered once and for all.